What is the most SURPRISING incident happen with you while playing OTB tourney?

A 5 Round swiss played about 30 years ago. A "B" player was doing horrible so after the second round he withdraws from the tournament and leaves the hall. The next day during round 5 he shows up and tells the director after he not only lost his shirt he left his coat.

I withdrew from a tournament once before the last round because I had played that particular tournament like crap and didn't see any possible prize and I was sick...... but then half a week later I got a check in the mail.

Turns out the prize fund was structured where first place got a large amount, 2nd got something also, and then 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th all got the same exact prize. Very weird.

USCF rated. The USCF handbook has clear guidelines for how prizes are to be distributed. I don't think it's actually against the rules to have equal shares for 3rd through 6th, but it isn't recommended.

when I was on my H.S. team, we travelled to another school to play them. Our opponents board 4 player had the previous week been kicked off the team for fighting. He was replaced by his younger brother.

So we get there, start the clocks, push some pawns. About 15 minutes into it, the big brother walks in the door and sez "Dad said you can come home now, or stay here forever!" So the younger brother shrugged, tipped his king, signed the score sheet, and left.

Piphilologist your post about the blunder from p. 3 of this thread is hilarious!

This once happened to me as black... I went into the ...Nxe4 trick, immediately realizing that I'm dropping my Bc5 into the bargain. Awful! And to an opponent rated like 1660 when I was rated around 1740, Israeli rating...

it was tough, but ironically I knew I shouldn't be losing to this player! So I played on, started to run kind of wild, sacrificed another minor piece for inadequate reasons or compensation... and did win the game :-)

So, I play most of my tournaments locally, which means I play more-or-less the same people every time. Since I usually play in the highest section, I pretty much know everyone better than me, down to about 100 pts below me. There was this one tournament were I was doing horribly (final score was 1/2 out of 4, and the draw was very sketchy--I had 3 pawns vs my opponent's 1 pawn and bishop--but my opponent was nervous and didn't want to risk it, and I had 24 and 1/2 points out of the 25 I needed to letter, and it was the last tournament of the year).

I lost to someone rated 200 points below me in the first round, and then drew against someone rated 250 points below me (I blame the uncomfortable chairs). After the second round, I was stewing in the skittles room and eating lunch. This guy I had never seen before asked me if I wanted to play a game. Since I'd never seen him before, I thought he was rated around 800 (he was a Caucasian high-schooler. What else would he be rated?), so I played without really giving it a lot of thought.

I used the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (usually I play the Veresov, but I like the BDG for a quick win against weaker players--if worse comes to worse and my tactical fireworks fizzle, I feel confident that they will lose the endgame regardless of being up a few pawns). So 1.d4 d5 2. e4?! and my opponent looks at the "free" pawn, and then takes it without much contemplation of what could be wrong with it. Even most 1000 rated players would check to see if it was a trap (they would probably decide that it wasn't and take the pawn anyway), but this guy just took it without regard of the consequences.

We played on through the Von Popiel variation, and he surprised me by making a lot of strong book moves (in the BDG, anything not "book" is immediately losing). Then I attacked his queen with another "free" pawn; after he took it (he wasn't supposed to), I nonchalantly played a 4-move tactic while eating my pizza with the other hand. Another day of outwitting those silly beginners. At least I'd get one win that day, even if it wasn't very hard-earned.

After we shook, the guy gave me this wierd look and asked me what my rating is. "Meh . . . somewhere around 1400," I replied, exaggerating slightly to impress him. "What are you rated?" I asked, trying to figure out how complicated my advice to him should be.

"1900," He said with a rueful smile.

Apparently he had just come here from Argentina, which is why I had never seen him before. He was playing in a round robin section (there were only about 4 people rated over 1700), which he later won despite forfeiting the first round because he was late.

But that wasn't the MOST suprising thing to happen to me in a tournament. See post #60 for that.

So, I play most of my tournaments locally, which means I play more-or-less the same people every time. Since I usually play in the highest section, I pretty much know everyone better than me, down to about 100 pts below me. There was this one tournament were I was doing horribly (final score was 1/2 out of 4, and the draw was very sketchy--I had 3 pawns vs my opponent's 1 pawn and bishop--but my opponent was nervous and didn't want to risk it, and I had 24 and 1/2 points out of the 25 I needed to letter, and it was the last tournament of the year).

I lost to someone rated 200 points below me in the first round, and then drew against someone rated 250 points below me (I blame the uncomfortable chairs). After the second round, I was stewing in the skittles room and eating lunch. This guy I had never seen before asked me if I wanted to play a game. Since I'd never seen him before, I thought he was rated around 800 (he was a Caucasian high-schooler. What else would he be rated?), so I played without really giving it a lot of thought.

I used the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (usually I play the Veresov, but I like the BDG for a quick win against weaker players--if worse comes to worse and my tactical fireworks fizzle, I feel confident that they will lose the endgame regardless of being up a few pawns). So 1.d4 d5 2. e4?! and my opponent looks at the "free" pawn, and then takes it without much contemplation of what could be wrong with it. Even most 1000 rated players would check to see if it was a trap (they would probably decide that it wasn't and take the pawn anyway), but this guy just took it without regard of the consequences.

We played on through the Von Popiel variation, and he surprised me by making a lot of strong book moves (in the BDG, anything not "book" is immediately losing). Then I attacked his queen with another "free" pawn; after he took it (he wasn't supposed to), I nonchalantly played a 4-move tactic while eating my pizza with the other hand. Another day of outwitting those silly beginners. At least I'd get one win that day, even if it wasn't very hard-earned.

After we shook, the guy gave me this wierd look and asked me what my rating is. "Meh . . . somewhere around 1400," I replied, exaggerating slightly to impress him. "What are you rated?" I asked, trying to figure out how complicated my advice to him should be.

"1900," He said with a rueful smile.

Apparently he had just come here from Argentina, which is why I had never seen him before. He was playing in a round robin section (there were only about 4 people rated over 1700), which he later won despite forfeiting the first round because he was late.

But that wasn't the MOST suprising thing to happen to me in a tournament. See post #60 for that.

I can imagine the same thing happening to me, and I'm over 2000 fide lol

you sound like one of these players who know a lot of opening theory, then don't play as well for the rest of the game... when I was 1400 I knew no opening theory at all beyond parhaps move 2 or 3 and even now my openings are weak which becomes a serious problem at this level.

you sound like one of these players who know a lot of opening theory, then don't play as well for the rest of the game...

Actually, I'm just really good at tactics (comparatively speaking). The BDG gives me lots of those. I don't really know a lot of openings by the book (I've never looked at a single line of the Sicillian, despite it being my sole response to e4), except for the BDG. (That's because I loved how sharp it is, so I would test my tactics by spend in a few minutes each day in a line, trying to figure out the best move, and then checking with the database.) Mostly, the reason why I'm 1400 is because I blunder too much and can't play positionally. In a sharp game, some IM's thought I was closer to 1800. Because I am less likely to blunder against a higher rated opponent, I actually have a better win rato against higher rated opponents than lower rated ones.

you sound like one of these players who know a lot of opening theory, then don't play as well for the rest of the game...

Actually, I'm just really good at tactics (comparatively speaking). The BDG gives me lots of those. I don't really know a lot of openings by the book (I've never looked at a single line of the Sicillian, despite it being my sole response to e4), except for the BDG. (That's because I loved how sharp it is, so I would test my tactics by spend in a few minutes each day in a line, trying to figure out the best move, and then checking with the database.) Mostly, the reason why I'm 1400 is because I blunder too much and can't play positionally. In a sharp game, some IM's thought I was closer to 1800. Because I am less likely to blunder against a higher rated opponent, I actually have a better win rato against higher rated opponents than lower rated ones.

I probably should, but I've played enough games with the Sicillian to be able to beat people around my rating in OTB, because no one else knows the lines either (about 1400 rating, but I've only been playing for about a year, so I haven't peaked out). Right before I played my first tournament game, a 1200 player showed me the structure of the Sicillian dragon--ever since, I've just kinda aimed for the structure and played chess. I have something like a 90% win rate with it, but I suspect that will drop when I finally get to people that actually know the lines. I don't have a lot of time to learn lines, so I've been trying to find a less theory-intensive opening that would be similar to the Sicillian, but I won't lose just because I've been outstudied. No luck yet.

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